The city’s leading disabled-runners group says New York City Marathon organizers are discriminating against the race’s handicapped participants.

“They feel that we’re a nuisance … They disrespect the athletes,” said Dick Traum, president of the Achilles Track Club, whose members include wheelchair racers, amputees and people with cerebral palsy, brain injuries and other disabilities. About 300 of them will race Sunday.

Traum said the New York Road Runners Club, which organizes the five-borough, 26.2-mile race, has tried to arbitrarily limit the number of handicapped runners and their volunteer guides.

He also said the 8:50 a.m. separate start time for disabled athletes is too late in the morning, and means some will finish the race in the dark and cold on streets open to traffic.

Allan Steinfeld, president of the NYRRC, denied Traum’s claims.

“We have always been supportive of athletes with disabilities and continue to be,” he said yesterday.

Some disabled runners and their guides said they were made to feel unwelcome this week when they tried to register for the race.